"Monarchs on Coneflower" (watercolor on paper; 4.5" x 6.5")

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"Hanging Out" (watercolor on paper; 6" x 6")
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Collage of My Animal World in Watercolor

This is it.  The collage shows my summer watercolor series of animal paintings.  I have been away from watercolors several years, because I was bored and felt I hit the wall.  I thought I couldn't achieve the rich, luxurious, textural, and painterly feel with the medium.  And I was quite right.  Switching to oils freed me.  I no longer worry about careful underdrawing and am wild with laying down thick paints.  

I also realized that I could be spontaneous with watercolors, perhaps a side benefit of having worked in oils that are more forgiving and "carefree".  My watercolor paintings are not tight. They are fresh, watercolory, and effortless-looking.  I like puddles, blooms, and paints beyond pencil lines.  I adore granulating paints that leave granular residues, such as cobalts and other mineral colors.  I don't use making fluid, because it leaves obvious, tell-tale marks.  In other words, I use watercolors to do things that can be done only with this transparent, fickle medium.  I let watercolor paints and water work their own magic!